Can signs help service workers coax a larger tip?
If you’re one of those people who tosses your extra coins into the tip jar after you’ve purchased an overpriced cup of coffee, how do you make that decision?
Two photos that arrived here at Pink, Inc., world headquarters this week suggest that counter workers are deploying a variety of sign-based strategies to wangle your small change.
Reader VZ sends this funny (but not especially emotionally intelligent) example:
Meanwhile, Mike Brice sends this less funny (but more emotionally intelligent) specimen:
Which, if either, is more effective?
(UPDATE: In the Comments, Austin Kleon offers another brilliant example).
My favorite variation on tip signs is setting up a competition between two tip jars:
http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/3228180045/tupac-vs-biggie-tip-jar-the-friendly-staff
I don’t like being “guilted” into tipping, so I’m much more inclined to leave a tip on a jar with a funny message.
As a father who has had several conversations with teachers about the “appropriateness of watching Justin Bieber videos during school hours,” I find the first sign above motivating. (although admittedly very dark)
Coffee houses must have a fairly confused policy when it comes to signage. The best signs in these businesses are usually the ones invented by the local employees. Meanwhile, the menu boards are terrible.
You should have seen how full the green and gold jar was at the local Madison, WI Starbucks leading up to the Super Bowl when they had Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers tip jars.
I like Austin’s and Karen’s comments. I normally don’t tip for counter service, but I would use money to vote for my choice of two responses to a good question.
I saw a tip jar at the Baskin Robbins in the Portland Oregon Airport saying
“If you fear change, leave it here.”
When I worked in a deli we had two jars: one for a homeless shelter and one for a pet shelter. The pet shelter filled up three times more quickly than the homeless shelter jar.
I feel bad for the Bieber fans, as they are merely ill-directed youth looking for a means of vicariously living an exciting life. Those poor pre-pubescent girls!
My vote is for the health care.
As Austin, Karen, and Tom have said before me, I think the idea of a “competitive”-tip jar is advantageous — especially in US (a country seemingly more “competitive” than most; [based on my pure speculation, lol]).
I don’t like the Bieber-sign or the healthcare plan sign. The Bieber-sign, to me, seems a bit distasteful. People are allowed their own opinions (I read that somewhere, right?), so if they want (or don’t want) to listen to Bieber, so be it [but if we take a Wilber-esque perspective ala AQAL, the pluralistic “people are entitled to their own opinions”-argument might create an interesting debate with those who think that Bieber’s music is not “second-tier thinking,” but at the same time, a “second-tier thinker” probably wouldn’t get into that debate]. As for the healthcare sign, like Lindsay, I don’t think “guilting” might lead to less tips.
With Love and Gratitude,
Jeremiah
What I find interesting is the power of asking for what you want. I assume that most counter attendants would “want” tips, but not all are willing to ask for them. I think both approaches are effective ways at beginning the game. The next step is to get effective at getting what you ask for. Be it Bieber or Health Care…if you look beyond counter attendants, where aren’t we as individuals even getting as far as even asking?
Best,
Ian
I think that the tip jar in any form is visual motivation (whether through sympathy, gratitude, guilt, or even humor.) If it’s sitting there people at least consider putting their loose change (or more) in it. With no jar, people can “pretend” that they didn’t know they were supposed to tip.
An simple video on ‘The Power Of Words’
http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=27089
A tip jar like that will usually get my spare change – unless the service was extraordinarily bad… The one I naver know what to do with this the take out place where I called in the order (what did the person do, write it down correctly?).
The first image is more effective because it attracts a general suspicion of pop culture. It arrests our attention through surprise (did they really say that?) and puts the reader in a moment of light-hearted generosity. The second sign reminds us that the quality of life is under constant pressure and as a result, it’s better to hang onto that change than share it. Walt Disney would tell you that people spend more money on vacation (light-hearted mood) over when they are pressured by the everyday. So I would disagree with the assessment that the first sign is less emotionally intelligent. But, hey, let’s measure what actually gets into the tip jar then decide!
Perhaps instead of Bieber fans dying they could offer customers a choice between two artists or styles of music as the music to be played the next day at the coffee shop, allowing the tip to impact the experience of the customer.
As a former bartender, I will both attest and confess–attesting to the fact that at least SOME tips really do make the difference between paying or “deferring” bills; confessing to the fact that I resorted at times to “creative tip solicitation”. Specifically, I would have a co-conspirator sitting at the bar, “in the way” of the tip jar. I would comp him a drink now and then for his complicity. When other patrons were getting their change from me, he would say something like, “Oh, excuse me–were you trying to get at this?” while gently moving the tip jar toward them. It could be quite effective at times.
As to the two examples, funny almost always trumps “emotionally intelligent” in my world, so I vote for the Bieber sign. It may be a bit cruel to make the joke at the expense of the fans rather than the Bieb himself, but it still gets a chuckle. I would, all things being equal, tip both illustrated servers, but I would be inclined to throw a bit more in the jar with the Bieber sign.
Finally, as a Canadian, I profoundly apologize to one and all for unleashing the Bieb on an unsuspecting universe. We could have tried harder to prevent him from spilling beyond our borders.
The funny one of course! And the funny competitive ones in the comments even more so. This is the message in the only management training video worth the rental, and it’s by Pixar. Monsters Inc: there’s more energy in giggles than in screams.
A very similar photo with a “this is my health plan” sign on a tip jar was circulating in Australia around the time of our last federal election in support of our universal health care system (Medicare). We all know that we are lucky to have it, but to see evidence of people having to work for tips to afford health care was a bit of a shock to lots of people. I would tip the second jar if I was visiting America, just like I give money to elderly beggars in Mexico, because I know their society doesn’t make provision for them.